The present invention relates to a removable rear seat for motor vehicles, in particular for Estate cars with a variable-volume loading space and a planar loading surface area. More particularly, the present invention relates to a removable rear seat comprising a rigid, seat bench, a seat-bench substructure for fixing the seat height and releasable anchorage locations for fastening the substructure on the floor of the vehicle body.
Removable rear seats are preferably used in Estate cars in order to be able to utilize as an additional loading area the free space which results from the rear seat being removed. For example, in EP 0 397 333 A2, a seat bench and a seat-bench substructure form a structural unit. The seat-bench substructure is formed by a pair of laterally arranged bases which project away downwards from the seat bench and are retained releasably in two inserts in the vehicle floor. Each insert has two anchor bolts which are arranged at a longitudinal distance from one another and extend transversely with respect to the longitudinal axis of the vehicle. Slots for engaging around the anchor bolt and manual locking hooks for engaging over the anchor bolts inserted into the slots are provided on the bases of the seat-bench substructure. Due to its bulkiness and its weight, the known rear seat is relatively unwieldy during removal and always has to be removed completely from the vehicle in order to increase the loading area, even when only a partial increase is required.
In the rear seat described in EP 0 537 078 A1, the seat bench is likewise connected in a non-separable manner to the seat-bench substructure. The seat-bench substructure comprises a frame, which carries the seat bench, and four feet which are retained releasably on the vehicle floor in the anchorage locations and are connected pivotably to the frame. Once the anchorage of the two rear feet have been released, the seat bench, along with the frame, can be pivoted forwards about the pivot axis between frame and front feet and can be rested against the backrest of the front vehicle seats. After release of all the anchorages on the feet, the rear seat can be fully removed from the vehicle. This operation likewise is relatively unwieldy and requires much exertion. By providing two different anchorage positions in each anchorage location, the rear seat can be installed in two positions which are displaced with respect to one another in the longitudinal direction of the vehicle and permit either a larger amount of legroom or a larger loading area.
An object of the present invention is to configure a rear seat which is lightweight and manageable during removal such that, after removal, the resulting free space has a planar surface area and can be utilized to the optimum extent.
The foregoing object has been achieved according to the present invention with a removable rear seat for motor vehicles in which the seat-bench substructure is connected, at an end thereof remote from the releasable anchorage locations, to the seat bench and is configured to be retained at the releasable anchorage locations so that it can be pivoted into and out of a use position which predetermines the seat height, into a stowage position in one of on and in a vehicle body floor. At least one manually actuatable locking device is operatively associated with the seat-bench substructure to lock the seat-bench substructure in the use position thereof at selected ones of the releasable anchorage positions.
By the separation of the seat bench and seat-bench substructure directly beneath the seat cushion of the rear seat according to the present invention and by the fold-away configuration of the seat-bench substructure remaining in the vehicle, very simple and user-friendly dismounting and mounting of the rear seat for the purpose of increasing the loading area or providing other free space is achieved. The seat bench, which can be removed from the vehicle without the seat-bench substructure, is lightweight, flat and extremely manageable. The seat-bench substructure remaining in the vehicle does not diminish the volume of the loading area or the planar surface area thereof, because it is fully lowered into the vehicle floor.
According to one currently preferred embodiment of the invention, the seat-bench substructure is of a two-part configuration and exhibits a front and rear substructure part, as seen in the longitudinal axis of the vehicle. Each substructure part is retained pivotably in its anchorage location and is connected releasably to the seat bench. Each substructure part is assigned a locking device which arrests the substructure part in its use position at least within the anchorage location. By virtue of this two-part configuration, the seat bench can be left in the vehicle when all that is required is a slight increase in the free space or loading area. In this situation, all that is needed is for the connection between the seat bench and the rear substructure part to be released, whereupon the rear seat can be pivoted by its connecting locations to the front substructure parts and swung against the back of the front seats. However, for this purpose, the front substructure part remains in its locked use position, and the rear substructure part, after unlocking, is pivoted into its stowage position in the vehicle floor.
A particularly advantageous feature of the two-part seat-bench substructure is achieved if the front substructure part has two anchorage locations which are preferably arranged symmetrically with respect to the longitudinal axis of the vehicle, and the rear substructure part has one anchorage location which is arranged centrally, preferably on the longitudinal axis of the vehicle.
According to an advantageous embodiment of the invention, the rear substructure part, then, has a longitudinal carrier, which is pivotably mounted at the ends in the anchorage location between two retaining webs and is preferably configured as a box-shaped hollow profile, and two transverse carriers which are fixedly connected to the longitudinal carrier, extend on opposite sides of the longitudinal carrier, transversely with respect to the longitudinal axis of the vehicle, and are preferably likewise designed as box-shaped profiles.
The locking device assigned to the rear substructure part can have a locking bolt, arranged between the retaining webs, and at least one locking hook, which is mounted in a rotationally movable manner on the longitudinal carrier. In the use position of the seat-bench structure, the locking hook engages over the locking bolt in a positively locking manner. Two latching bolts can each be displaced axially with respect to the longitudinal axis of the vehicle to engage, under the spring force of a locking spring, into latching holes in each side wall of the vehicle body. In this embodiment, the latching holes are preferably provided in metal side plates fastened on the wheel arches. This achieves crash-resistant locking of the rear substructure part on the vehicle body despite only one anchorage location on the vehicle floor.
In another currently preferred embodiment of the invention, the locking device is equipped with a hand lever which is coupled, via a connector preferably configured as Bowden cables, to the two latching bolts in the transverse carriers and the at least one locking hook in the anchorage location. This has the advantage that only a single hand lever has to be operated in order to unlock longitudinal and transverse carriers and, at the same time, achieve locking of the rear substructure part on the vehicle body which can absorb large crash forces. The stable configuration of the rear substructure part with hollow profile likewise absorbs the forces resulting from an impact. Consequently, according to a further advantageous aspect of the present invention, the belt buckles for the two safety belts of the rear seats can be fastened on the longitudinal carrier so as to pass through the seat bench.
According to a still further currently preferred embodiment of the invention, the front substructure part is formed by two pivot arms which are each mounted pivotably at the ends on retaining webs at an anchorage location and are connected to one another via a transverse rod extending at right angles with respect to the longitudinal axis of the vehicle. The locking device assigned to the front substructure part takes effect, in at least one of the two anchorage locations, between pivot arm and retaining web and can be released by an unlocking lever. Preferably in this arrangement, the locking device has a locking bolt, projecting transversely on the pivot arm, and the bolt-receiving structure which is fixedly connected to the retaining web and has a rotary latch, into which the bolt latches in the use position of the seat-bench substructure. The unlocking lever acts on a blocking plate blocking the rotary latch and, for unlocking, pivots said blocking plate away from the rotary latch in order to release the locking bolt.
Self-engaging locks with a manual release lever, which are arranged between seat bench, and the upper end of the pivot arms and upper side of the transverse carriers are provided for the releasable connection of seat-bench and seat-bench substructure. Each lock has a lock bolt, a bolt-receiver and a blocking lever which engages over the lock bolt positioned in the bolt-receiver and which can be pivoted counter to the force of a closure spring in order to open the lock via the release lever. These types of locks permit a relative rotary movement of the lock bolts in the bolt-receiver, with the result that, after releasing the locks on the rear substructure part, the locks of the front structure parts serve as pivot bearings for the swinging-up movement of the seat bench.
The retaining webs in the anchorage locations of the rear and front substructure parts can be retained longitudinally displaceably in guide rails extending parallel to the longitudinal axis of the vehicle. A latching device which latches the retaining webs in at least two displacement positions in the associated guide rail is provided in at least one of the anchorage locations. In each side wall of the vehicle body, provision is made, then, for two latching holes which are each assigned to one of the two displacement positions and are intended for receiving the latching bolts in the transverse carriers. By virtue of this configuration of the seat-bench substructure, the rear seats can be used in the vehicle in two different positions at different spacings from the front seats of the vehicle. One rear-seat position provides the seat users with a larger amount of legroom, and the other rear-seat position increases the loading area located behind the rear seat.
The latching device can be assigned to one anchorage location of the rear substructure part and can have a latching bolt which can be displaced vertically on the retaining web. The latching bolt latches into two latching holes, which are arranged at a distance apart in the guide rail, under the action of a latching spring. An unlocking member which acts on the latching bolt lifts the latching bolt, upon actuation, out of the latching hole counter to the force of the latching spring. The unlocking member preferably is formed by a Bowden cable which is coupled to the hand lever of the locking device assigned to the rear substructure part. The front and rear substructure parts are connected to one another by a connecting rod extending in or parallel to the longitudinal axis of the vehicle. As a result, the front substructure part can also be displaced into the respective seat position and retained there.
In the stowage position of the seat-bench substructure, the front and rear substructure parts can rest with contact pressure on the floor of the vehicle body. In each case, one damping element, preferably a rubber block, is arranged between the pivot arms of the front substructure part and the pivotable longitudinal carrier of the rear substructure part and the floor of the vehicle body. This arrangement ensures that the seat-bench substructure remaining in the vehicle is positioned therein without any rattling.